Arctic Accelero S1: Very chilly

The wife's new gaming rig contains a Leadtek 9600GT, which was slightly cheaper than a 8800GT and subsequently slightly slower. For the games she plays (heck, even the games I play) at the monitors native resolution (1680×1050) it is more than powerful enough. The only problem with the card (and 99% of the cards on the market) is the huge amount of noise that can be generated. The 8800GT's stock cooler for example, can get up to 70 decibels! I remember my 7900GT getting up to similar levels of noise.

  
The unsuspecting stock cooler Naked 9600GT

Enter third party coolers. On my ageing 7900GT, I have a Thermalright HR-03 installed, which I thought was fantastic, although the price (~$80 at the time, plus more for a fan), size and weight were a bit much to take. Prices on the HR-03 (as well as the GT and Plus models, which add compatibility) have come down (to ~$50), but they're still expensive compared to the Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 which PCCaseGear are selling for just $37.

I was a little unsure of what the results would be, as the airflow in the wife's computer isn't fantastic (just one 120mm Antec Tricool fan (set on Low), the stock Intel Heatsink/Fan cooling the Core2Quad Q6600, and the fan on the 430w Antec Earthwatts power supply) which usually hampers passive cooling considerably.

9600GT with Accelero S1 mounted - it dwarfs the card!

To simulate load, I played through the first two levels of Gears of War, with all details on high (apart from AA), it was silky smooth.

The results are amazing: the S1 come out 7c cooler. While the passive S1 by itself is a better cooler than Leadtek's active cooler and normally I'd be more than satisfied by that, I had already purchased the Turbo Module because of the airflow issue I mentioned, so I thought "what the heck, lets add it to see the difference!"

The Turbo Module consists of two frameless fans, which clip onto the Accelero S1 (or S2), and plug in via a 3pin fan power (or with an included adapter 4pin hdd/odd molex power plug). Installation should just be: clip it on then plug it in. Unfortunately, I discovered the 3 pin fan power cable wasn't long enough to reach the closest CHA_FAN plug, so I had to use the adapter. Then I discovered the power cable was obstructing one of the fans due to the stiffness of the cable. As it turns out, I didn't tuck all cables into the heatsink properly, doing so prevented the fan cables from obstructing the fans.

An alternative to the Turbo Module is to use cable ties with a large quiet fan if you've got one (I'd recommend 92mm or 120mm) but unless you've got one handy the Turbo Module will probably come in cheaper ($12 vs ~$30 for a "low noise" 120mm fan).

 
"Turbo Module" added

That's 26 degrees Celsius or 48% cooler than the stock fan on load, and 19c cooler than the S1 by itself.

The Turbo Module certainly has huge benefits, as I'm sure strapping any fans to it would. Since the S1 without any fans is "acceptable", it really comes down to:

• Are you overclocking?
• Can you afford it?
• Can you live with the slight increase in noise?

Noise wise, I can't hear it over the PSU or Intel HSF, so I'd be happy to leave it attached. This may change if I was to replace the 120mm fan with a Nexus Real Silent (or a Noctua) fan and the Intel HSF for something like the Thermalright Ultra 120/Extreme (or Scythe Ninja/Mini Ninja).

The S1 may not be for everybody though. It isn't compatible with the 8800GTX/Ultra, 9800GTX/Ultra or older 8800GTS models (G80 GTS's aren't compatible, G92 are compatible) and its rather large. The last point is not going to be a concern for anybody with "gaming" or "enthusiast" size cases (mid or full size towers, or even some larger desktops), but for small form factor cases, it may protrude too far up. Likewise, if you have need of all your PCI/PCIe slots, it turns the single slot 9600GT into a dual slot, while adding the Turbo kit really turns it into a triple slot card.